Mexico City, 14 November, 2014. - November 9-14, five independent experts from the Americas and Europe visited Mexico in order to observe the situation of human rights defenders. The Civil Observation Mission (MOC), convened by 11 national and international organizations, held meetings with civil society and authorities from the three levels of government in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Baja California and the Federal District. In Guerrero, they also visited the “Raul Isidro Burgos” teachers college in Ayotzinapa, where they interviewed family members of the 43 disappeared students.

The Civil Observation Mission thanks the men and women human rights defenders and journalists for making space to give their testimony. They also thank the authorities from the four entities of the Mexican government for their reception and the support that they gave. In general, the MOC was able to conduct the planned interviews within specified terms. Nevertheless, the Civil Observation Mission laments not having had the opportunity to meet with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), especially considering the lack of legitimacy expressed by some of the civil society organizations about the CNDHs conduct.

The situation of risk and vulnerability faced by HRDs is palpable in Mexico. The MOC had the opportunity to meet with HRDs that work on a wide variety of human rights issues and every one of them spoke of having been the victim of attacks, threats and obstruction of their work, by state agents (from the federal to the municipal level), corporations that are implementing large scale economic projects or that reject the labor rights of their workers, and by armed actors that operate outside the law or that are associated with organized crime.

On the basis of the information gathered during the MOC, the observers manifest their concern and emit their conclusions and preliminary recommendations on some of the principle themes:

Official Recognition

The MOC considers necessary continued official recognition by all levels of government of the important work carried out by HRDs in Mexico. This should consider the broad definition of who is considered a human rights defender in order to include journalists and applies especially to those authorities who are in charge of bestowing special protection to these populations.

Criminalization

The observers received constant reports on the undue use of the penal system in order to criminalize the defense of human rights, especially social protest. The use of open, vague and ambiguous charges such as “imprisonment”, “obstruction of public routes”, “attacks on national wealth” or of legal figures such as pretrial detention stand out. Cases of HRDs charged with minor crimes such as car theft which are then used to mark them and dissuade them from continuing their work. This generates a climate of intimidation for other HRDs and forces them to exhaust resources, time and energy on their own defense instead of human rights work. Organizations and defenders informed the MOC of an increase in arbitrary detentions, especially in the Federal District in the context of peaceful protests with isolated incidents of violence.

Protection Measures and Lack of Cooperation

The MOC recognizes that the Mexican Government has established some measures and pioneering legislative framework for the protection of HRDs such as the law that establishes the Governmental Protection Mechanism for HRDs and Journalists and the Constitutional Reform on human rights in 2011. It also recognizes that the visited federal entities signed cooperation agreements in order to apply the mechanism.

Nonetheless, the beneficiaries of the Federal Protection Mechanism have expressed that it needs strengthening. The MOC received information on the deficiencies in the initial response given to applications to the mechanism and on the risk assessments, which, according to reports, are conducted without clear criteria and disregarding the context in which the defender requests protection. The time it takes to respond to petitions surpasses those established in the law and a lack of clarity makes them ineffective. In some cases, the implementation of ordered security measures took place only after a new threat or attack. Some HRDs expressed not having applied to the Mechanism due to lack of confidence in it's effectiveness and that they feel safer creating their own protection systems and protocols.

The MOC considers that the Protection Mechanism lacks the implementation of a true prevention policy. Actions are not directed at formulating such a prevention policy, which should include analysis of tenancies in received attacks and threats. Although it is necessary to strengthen the Protection Mechanism, it is not the only answer to the situation of vulnerability faced by HRDs, but a temporary tool to protect them from immediate danger. This situation exists in a context of structural impunity, and while the origins of threats and attacks are not investigated and sanctioned, protection will be required.

Impunity

Combating impunity in cases of aggressions, threats and attacks against HRDs is the only way to give an effective response to the root of the situation that they face. The MOC recommends establishing a policy of criminal investigation in order to solve cases and sanction those responsible for threats and attacks against defenders. The presumption that these attacks are related to the defender's work is also necessary.

It's important to point out that the MOC arrived in Mexico in the context of a human rights crisis. The international community has expressed extreme concern over the events of September 26 in which 6 people were killed and 43 students disappeared in the state of Guerrero. Because of this, the MOC included among it's meetings a dialogue with some of the victim's family members in order to understand the context, express solidarity and support and share in the indignation of the family members and community. What has occurred in Guerrero is an example of the critical violence faced by those who demand their rights. We wish to join the calls for an explanation of what happened and the finding of the students alive.

Finally, we recall that men and women defenders are fundamental to the construction of a more just society and that, in the face of indifference or in-operation of the State, they are who protect the most vulnerable sectors of the population. Attacks committed against HRDs constitute attacks on the people who's rights they seek to defend and on society as a whole. The members of the MOC urge that there be no reprisals against the organizations that accompanied the mission or the HRDs that participated in meetings.

Angelita Baeyens
Tarcila Rivera Zea
Elvira Domínguez Redondo
Rosario Figari Layús
Eleanor Openshaw